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2006 Notes (and Babb's comparison to 2002 defense) merged

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Carmen Ohio

All-American
With the ink not yet dry on the 2005 season looking ahead turned out to be a real treat. The team and the schedule lay out nicely for a run at the National Championship.

1) Troy Smith will be a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. Should they return the favorites are Reggie Bush and Vince Young. I'd say the others lumped with Smith will be Brady Quinn and Maurice Drew. If Troy plays all season like he did in our six soon-to-be seven game streak he's got to be right up there. If Young returns he does so with a less-experienced offensive and defensive front giving us more of a chance at sweet revenge in Austin. Even if he doesn't return the game will cast Smith even more in the national spotlight.

2) There is talent and experience everywhere. Assuming Santonio is the only early defection here's what we start off with among those with playing time:

QB: Troy Smith (Sr), Justin Zwick (Sr), Todd Boeckman (So)

Receiving: Ginn (Jr), Dukes (So), Gonzales (Jr), Hall (Sr), Lyons (Jr), Frost (Jr), Nicol (So)

OL: Datish-C (Sr), Downing-RG (Sr), Barton-RT (Jr), Shafer-RT (Sr), Rehring-LT (Jr), Boone-LT (So)

TB/FB: Pittman (Jr), M.Wells (So), Haw (So), White (Sr), Johnson (Jr) - expect early playing time for C. Wells

DL: Patterson-DE/DT (Sr), Richardson-DE (Sr), Gholsten-DE (Jr), Wilson-DE (So), Pitcock-DT (Sr), Cotton-DT (Jr), Abdallah-DE (So)

LB: D'Andrea (Sr), Kerr (Sr), Freeman (So), Hoobler (Jr), Laurinitis (So), Terry (Jr)

CB: Youboty (Sr), Jenkins (So), Welsh (Jr), Underwood (So)

S: Whitner (Sr), Mitchell (Sr), O'Neal (So)

The list is compiled with what I think is the player's eligibility. Add these to the players you know will break out next year like Person, Skinner and Mitchum on the O-Line, Worthington on the D-Line, Anderson Russell in the defensive backfield and our annual freshman surprise.

You've got to love the way JT recruited this team to be strong every year.

3) We've got another championship-attractice schedule:
<TABLE borderColor=#990000 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=500 border=2><TBODY><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD>Day</TD><TD>Date</TD><TD>Opponent</TD><TD>Location</TD><TD width=100>Time</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#eeeeee><TD>Sat</TD><TD>09/02/2006</TD><TD>Northern Illinois</TD><TD>Columbus, Ohio</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD>Sat</TD><TD>09/09/2006</TD><TD>Texas</TD><TD>Austin, Texas</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#eeeeee><TD>Sat</TD><TD>09/16/2006</TD><TD>Cincinnati</TD><TD>Columbus, Ohio</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD>Sat</TD><TD>09/23/2006</TD><TD>Penn State</TD><TD>Columbus, Ohio</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#eeeeee><TD>Sat</TD><TD>09/30/2006</TD><TD>Iowa</TD><TD>Iowa City, Iowa</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD>Sat</TD><TD>10/07/2006</TD><TD>Bowling Green</TD><TD>Columbus, Ohio</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#eeeeee><TD>Sat</TD><TD>10/14/2006</TD><TD>Michigan State</TD><TD>East Lansing, Mich.</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD>Sat</TD><TD>10/21/2006</TD><TD>Indiana</TD><TD>Columbus, Ohio</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#eeeeee><TD>Sat</TD><TD>10/28/2006</TD><TD>Minnesota</TD><TD>Columbus, Ohio</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD>Sat</TD><TD>11/04/2006</TD><TD>Illinois</TD><TD>Champaign, Ill.</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#eeeeee><TD>Sat</TD><TD>11/11/2006</TD><TD>Northwestern</TD><TD>Evanston, Ill.</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD>Sat</TD><TD>11/18/2006</TD><TD>Michigan</TD><TD>Columbus, Ohio</TD><TD width=100>TBA





</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


If we take care of this year's bowl game and the pollsters don't make a mountain out of losing Hawk, Schlegel and Carpenter we could start the season in the top 5. Beat Texas, the top two or three.

It is good to be a Buckeye.
 
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Dukes, Nicol, and Freeman will be Sophs. Hoobler and Terry will be juniors.

Anyone who thinks that the defense won't take a huge step back is setting themselves up for disappointment a la 2004. There's no way to lose this much talent and not miss a beat.
 
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- I agree next year is going to be very promising, but it's not going to be easy. Northern Illinois will give us a good test right out of the gates. They are one of those pesky teams that always play and are coached well. But the game in Austin is going to be a REAL handful. Vince Young looks like he is planning to come back and they have a wealth of other talent returning, and with us losing a lot of leadership and experience on defense, that is going to be a difficult game to pull off. Fortunately it is an early season game, and with our Big 10 schedule looking favorable we could remain in the hunt with some help if we indeed cannot pull that one off.
- As far as Troy making a Heisman run, I think he will get some early season mentions (especially if he gives a strong bowl performance), but the Texas game will make or break him as a legitimate candidate. He has shown that he can step up in big games, and with him at QB, if our D can contain VY and the Longhorns attack in that game, we will have a real shot at pulling it off. Lets not forget about Teddy as a Heisman hopeful next year too. he was very up and down this year, but with added maturity, and i think a little less focus on him he could very well slip back in there.
- 2006 does indeed look very promising. Adding Beanie Wells to our already thriving offense could make us a legitamate juggernaut on that side of the ball. It will be exciting. Tress has proven that he is one of the top recruiters in the country, and that will prevent too big of a fall of in any facet of the game. The future looks very bright in Buckeye land. Fuck Michigan.
 
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Defense will start out slow, but I think we are in position to have an offense that can carry us as the defense gets better.

The linebackers won't be as good as this year, but they'll still be good, I do not doubt that at all.

The Texas game will tell a lot, and the trip to Iowa City will be pretty interesting.
 
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Look for Pitcock and Whitner to compete for all-American honors. If Troy Smith continues to develop, he could be a legitimate Heisman candidate. Oh, and let's not forget Ted Ginn. He was over-hyped this year, but he'll continue to develop into an outstanding all-purpose player. And one of our up-and-coming linebackers, and another of our up-and-coming offensive linemen will step up and make their case for national attention (candidates aplenty).

Yes, it's a good time to be a Buckeye.
:osu:
 
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bucknut11 said:
Dukes, Nicol, and Freeman will be Sophs. Hoobler and Terry will be juniors.

Anyone who thinks that the defense won't take a huge step back is setting themselves up for disappointment a la 2004. There's no way to lose this much talent and not miss a beat.
Click to expand...

While I don't think this defense will be quite as good as the 2005 version, to say it will be reverting to 2004 is a huge leap IMO.

The thing that hurt the most was the loss our defensive coordinator when fielding a YOUNG team. That had a huge impact on how our defense functioned for much of the season. Also I think there will be more senior leadership on the defense in the 2 deep. Added to that, many of those seniors and other backups have seen much more quality time then the new starters in 2004.
 
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Carmen Ohio said:
With the possible exception of Boone on offense and Jenkins, Laurinitis and Freeman on defense all our expected starters are Sr's and Jr's. I think we'll be alright.
Click to expand...

We lost all three starting linebackers, one of which is a Butkus award winner. We lost a dominant defensive end and a very sold Marcus Green in the middle. We lost a great leader and experienced safety in Nate Salley. We lost an All-American caliber center and a very underrated guard in Rob Sims. Plus we are expected to lose on of the best wide recievers in the college game.

Thats alot of experience...
 
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wdg01 said:
While I don't think this defense will be quite as good as the 2005 version, to say it will be reverting to 2004 is a huge leap IMO.

The thing that hurt the most was the loss our defensive coordinator when fielding a YOUNG team. That had a huge impact on how our defense functioned for much of the season. Also I think there will be more senior leadership on the defense in the 2 deep. Added to that, many of those seniors and other backups have seen much more quality time then the new starters in 2004.
Click to expand...

I didn't say they'd play like that. Going into 2004 a lot of people said we wouldn't miss a beat after losing a mere record 14 draft picks. I see some people thinking the same here. We're gonna lose the best linebacking trio in the history of the school, but some think we'll just shrug it off and continue to dominate. There's just no way to expect the same out of the defense. I expect the D to be solid, maybe good by the end of the year in 06, that's all.
 
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our D will not be as good as this year in 2006. But one thing you can count on JT coached teams is good D play. well two.. good special teams play as well.

Don't have to tell you much about our returning Offensive players. We will win Big Ten and compete for NC in 2006.
 
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scarletngrey77 said:
We lost all three starting linebackers, one of which is a Butkus award winner. We lost a dominant defensive end and a very sold Marcus Green in the middle. We lost a great leader and experienced safety in Nate Salley. We lost an All-American caliber center and a very underrated guard in Rob Sims. Plus we are expected to lose on of the best wide recievers in the college game.

Thats alot of experience...
Click to expand...

It's college. You look forward not backward. You don't have to be #1 nationally against the rush and #1 in the Big Ten on defense to win the NC.
 
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I'm not expecting huge things out of our defense next year because thats just not fair to our boys. However I think we should be just fine. If you look at things we got alot of players returning on the D-line importantly is our interior line is back this should help with teams running the ball up the middle. Top that off with most likely the best secondary in the nation who returns 3 starters (all four if you count Mitchell). The power of our defensive Line, and the Speed of our secondary should lessen the sting of the loss of our linebackers.

On to the Linebackers- I believe the starters will be Laurinitis, Freeman, and D'Andrea... D'Andrea has started before, and Freeman was going to take some playing time from Carpenter this year to keep him fresh. I believe we'll see a drop off a bit, but not nearly as much as we say.

I'm very excited to see this defense play because I think we should be faster than we were this past year, but maybe not as physical. We need a couple things to happen for this team to be a dominant defense like this past years. 1) Get pressure on the QB from the Edges ( I believe we'll See D'Andrea used like Carpenter was). 2) The Defensive line really has to stick to the offensive line and give our young Linebackers a chance to roam and make plays, and 3) We need to get off the field with every opportunity. Wether thats a 3 and out, get turnovers, ANYTHING... With having some unexperienced players its crucial that we get off the field when we have the chance.

I don't even need to talk about our offense.... we're going to be nasty..
 
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